The Emotional Toll on Obese Children

For many overweight children and teens, their physical health and well-being is the least of their problems. Their real suffering comes when they contend with name-calling, rejection by peers, taunting, and other poor treatment they receive from other children at school and in the community. And for many, it's not only how others think of them, but how they think of themselves. A sizable percentage of overweight kids - particularly girls - are clinically depressed as a result of a preoccupation with being overweight.

Experts find more andmore evidence that the emotional toll of obesity for kids is significant and can impact everything from the ability to develop strong friendships to academic performance. A recent survey reveals that obese children rate their quality of life as low as those of young cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Other studies are reporting increased rates of depression, low self-esteem and social isolation, which are then manifest in significant behavioral problems.

As obese children grow up, they are less likely to be accepted into college, less likely to get married, and more likely to occupy a lower socioeconomic status.

It might be true that overweight kids have always been hard on themselves, and have always been mistreated. But a 2001 study by Latner and Stunkard demonstrates that the situation has gotten worse. The study replicated a 1961 study of stigma in childhood obesity that asked children to rank six drawings of same-sex children with obesity, various disabilities, or no disability ("healthy") in order of how well they liked each child. The results were fascinating but sad. Although children in both the 1961 and 2001 studies liked the drawing of the obese child the least (i.e., less than the other disabilities), the obese child was liked significantly less in the 2001 study than in the 1961 study.

Being overweight can not only lead to poor physical health, it can also lead to psychological problems, which may require professional intervention by a therapist.  If your child is very overweight, do not underestimate the torment other children subject them to.  Even the "happy fat kid" may actually be using humor and clowing around to hide deep feelings of loneliness and low self-esteem.